This was my first ever full box of a higher-end product. I really love the look and feel of the Artifacts cards, and felt it was high time to grab myself a box of them.

My luck with Artifacts previously was on an upswing. The first two boxes of cards I opened on this site were blaster boxes of Artifacts from years past, resulting in a Ron Hextall jersey patch and an Ovechkin “stars” card. Neither of these had a recap written for them, so I figured I’d just mention them here. I decided to purchase a single hobby pack back when Series 1 came out for this year, resulting in a very nice looking jersey card. As I saw my luck get better for this set, I figured it was about time to get a box.

The decision did not disappoint me. I ended up getting a very cool Lidstrom card, which I consider one of the better cards in my small collection. In all, I consider this box a success. Here’s what was inside:

Not bad for my first ever box of SP Authentic… I know I could have probably gotten something better, but considering I was opening a four year old box, I took what I could get. This break was spread out over a few months, from Nov. 26th, 2011 to Dec. 25th, 2012.

I never thought I’d get to 100 posts so quickly! To celebrate, I’m going to be opening a blaster box of Upper Deck Collector’s Choice 2009-2010. I know that it is kind of a strange set to open from, but with all the other box breaks going on all at once on this blog, I wanted to save the more expensive sets for daily posts.

I’m going to put all the inserts above the break, then do a pack-by-pack breakdown of base cards after the “click here to read more” tag.

My first ever box of Upper Deck Series One is now completely open! Overall, I had a really fun time opening these packs over a shorter span of time than the currently ongoing MVP and SP cards. I feel like it is really easy to get a full set of base cards after only two hobby boxes – making me feel like I should go get another one!

For Thanksgiving, I decided to open a box of Upper Deck Be A Player 2008-2009.

This box was very interesting, as it guaranteed an autographed card to be inside. Considering I purchased it for a very low price, I didn’t expect the autograph to be anything special. All the good autos from this set have probably already been claimed, now that it has been on the market for a few years.

Regardless, I opened it anyway.

Of all the players in the NHL, I laughed when I got Andrew Peters as the autograph card. The short-term enforcer for the Sabres made a 3 minute impact on the games he dressed in, almost fighting in each of the games. I was happy to get a Sabres player as the autograph though. It could have just as easily been a short-term, low-value enforcer from some other team.

This was a fun box to break. For the low price I paid to get it, it was worth it. (more…)